The railroad has been probably the greatest single catalyst for folklore in American life. Both religious and secular songs have used the image of the train as a basic vehicle of expression. Railroads also embody American democracy, the spirit of the American frontier, and the divide between management and labor.

In the early years of the 20th-century, the final event in the corn-growing season was shucking. It was the most convenient way to get the corn ready for storing, and combined the labor of the whole community with the opportunity for socializing. Benton relates some corn shucking stories from Sampson County.

Bird and fowl augury was, and is, widely practiced in folk communities. The list of folk beliefs centering on birds is massive: they are proclaimers of omens, revealers of secrets, originators of music, messengers of the gods, and guardians of the tree of knowledge.